The score for 2005 Saxum Vineyards Booker Vineyard Paso Robles is 94 from Robert Parker and the tasting note - A blend of 92% Syrah and 8% Grenache, the 2005 Booker Vineyard is the debut vintage of this 400-case cuvee produced from a hillside vineyard situated on the west side of Highway 101. It exhibits plenty of crushed rock, sweet black fruit, and underbrush/forest floor characteristics along with sweet tannin and a structured, muscular personality similar to a northern Rhone. Big and powerful yet precise and well-delineated, it should drink nicely for 10-15 years. The bottled 2005s are all performing well. One of the superstar, artisinal winemaking operations in Paso Robles is Heather and Justin Smith’s Saxum Vineyard. The Smiths are also the proprietors of the James Berry Vineyard, an exceptional hillside site planted in pure white limestone, a site that provides extraordinary richness, minerality, precision, and individuality. Like his colleague to the south, Manfred Krankl, Justin Smith has been moving from strength to strength, building more elegance and nuances into his wines without sacrificing their intrinsic intensity, purity, and richness. As for the 2006s, these wines are scheduled to be bottled slightly later than usual as Justin Smith is another producer who is instituting longer cask and pungeon agings. The 2007s tasted suggest this may be one of the finest vintages Saxum has yet produced. The wines are already spectacular, and will no doubt gain in weight, texture, and nuances over the next year. The score for 2005 Saxum Vineyards Heart Stone Vineyard Grenache Syrah Mouvedre Paso Robles is 94 from Robert Parker and the tasting note - Looking at the 2005 Heart Stone Vineyard, this blend of 44% Syrah, 33% Grenache and 23% Mourvedre offers up impressive aromatics, medium to full-bodied richness and fabulous purity of fruit. Creme de cassis, black cherries, licorice, smoked earth and wild herbs like qualities all emerge from the glass, and this nicely structured effort stays pure and focused on the palate, with excellent overall freshness and energy. It should easily continue to shine for another decade. Starting with the Bone Rock releases, these come from a west-facing, terraced section of James Berry Vineyard. It’s named after the incredible whale bones that were found while creating the terraces.